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CRUISING IN 

THE CARIBBEAN WITH 

A CAMERA 



LECTURE DELIVERED MAY 7. I9°3, AT THE NEW YORK YACHT CLUB 

INCLUDING DESCRIPTION OF GLOBULAR NAVAL 

BATTERY INVENTED BY THE AUTHOR 



BY 

ANSON PHELPS STOKES 

FORMERLY VICE-COMMODORE OF THE NEW YORK YACHT CLUB 



NEW YORK 
DODD, MEAD & CO. 

1903 



THE LIBRAHY OK 
COMGRrr.S, 

(VinvoirtUT ptrmv 



Copyright, 1903, by 
Anson Phelps Stokes 









1^ 



LECTURE GIVEN AT THE NEW YORK 
YACHT CLUB 

May 7, 1903^ 

At the general meeting, May 15, 1902, 1 addressed 
the Club on the subject of " Cruising in the 
West Indies," etc. 

That was after returning from a three months' 
cruise there in my schooner yacht Sea Fox. 

Needing to avoid cold weather last winter 
and remembering the unequaled advantages for 
winter and early spring cruising afforded by the 
eastern part of the Caribbean Sea, from Porto 
Rico to Trinidad, I determined to take the Sea 
Fox there again. 

I have now returned from a cruise of about 
three months. During this time I have visited 
most of the islands at which I landed last year, 
and also some others, including Hayti, Jamaica, 
and Cuba. 

1 One hundred and forty-six stereopticon views were used in this 
lecture. A few of these views are here represented. 

3 



Before I left New York, January 17th, the 
Chairman of our Lecture Committee called 
and asked that upon my return I would give 
to the Club a lecture on " Cruising in the Carib- 
bean," to be illustrated by a stereopticon, and 
to be one of the course of seven lectures 
which the Committee planned for the present 
season. 

Now, the cruise I had planned for this season, 
if added to last year's cruise, would complete the 
tour of the islands on the north and east of the 
Caribbean Sea. 

Other reasons for consenting to address the 
Club again on the subject of the Caribbean I 
can most easily express by quoting a few lines 
from my last year's address, which was printed 
in my book on " Cruising in the West Indies," 
etc.i 

" The great variety found in the appearance and condi- 
tion of the inhabitants, the various systems of land-owner- 
ship and labor . . . , the general decay caused by want 
of commercial intercourse with the United States and with 
each other, the different colonial systems of the various 
nations owning the islands, the negro question, — all these 
present an important study for Americans, who are now 
called upon to face colonial problems." 

1 Dodd, Mead & Co., New York, 1902. 

4 



At that time I had seen sad results there of the 
mixture of the two races. Since then I have had 
an opportunity to compare white government in 
Jamaica with colored government in the neigh- 
boring island of Hayti, — a contrast as startling 
as that between St. Pierre as I saw it last year, 
and the dead St. Pierre that I have now visited. 

I think that few in our community know much 
of the interests and beauties surrounding the 
Caribbean Sea. Our war with Spain and the 
terrible disasters at Martinique and St. Vincent 
have called attention to a few islands, but how 
few of our citizens know anything of the charms 
of the Danish and British Virgin Islands, the 
grandeur and beauty of the Leeward and Wind- 
ward Islands, or that there are a hundred islands 
in the Grenadine group alone. Or that on the 
north shore of South America, and beginning 
near Trinidad, and attaining its greatest height 
near Caracas, is what Kingsley, in " Westward 
Ho ! " has called " the mighty northern wall, the 
highest cliff on earth, some nine thousand feet 
of rock parted from the sea by a narrow strip 
of bright green lowland." How few know that, 
three hundred miles farther west, Santa Marta, 
covered with perpetual snow, and in plain view 
from the decks of passing vessels, rises 17,500 
5 



feet, while, farther west and south, Aconcagua is 
23,910 feet high. Mt. Blanc is only 15,800 feet 
above sea level, and is far from the sea. 

The Caribbean is about the same size as the 
Mediterranean, which is a little longer and nar- 
rower. But the Caribbean Sea, on account of 
its location twenty degrees farther south, its re- 
liable trade-winds, freedom from storms during 
February, March, April, etc., is much better 
suited for late winter and early spring yachting. 




Morro Castle, San Juan, Porto Rico. 




Porto Rican children. 



SOUTHERN CRUISE OF THE " SEA FOX " 
IN 1903 

I INTEND this lecture to be a report of my late 
cruise, and I will endeavor now, with the aid of 
the stereopticon,^ to carry you to some of the 
places we visited in the Sea Fox between Janu- 
ary 22, 1903, when we joined the yacht at San 
Juan, Porto Rico, to April 14, when we entered 
the port of Baltimore, Md. Some of the photo- 
graphs taken on the Sea Fox proved defective. 
I have obtained others from dealers. 

San Juan was founded in 151 1, eighteen years 
after the discovery of Porto Rico by Columbus, 
and five years after the conquest by Ponce de 
Leon, whose ashes are still kept in his old castle 
there. 

Morro Castle, the principal fortification, was 
built in 1584. 

We had the advantage of a long postprandial 
talk with Governor Hunt, regarding the affairs 
of the island, 

1 See foot-note, page 3. 



You may be interested in the costumes of some 
of the natives, so soon probably to become our 
fellow-citizens. 

There are beautiful shores and beaches near 
San Juan. 

We sailed from San Juan to the island of Cu- 
lebra, where we found the North Atlantic 
Squadron under Rear-Admiral Higginson, Com- 
mander-in-chief. His flag-ship, the Kearsarge, 
and the other battle-ships, Alabama, Illinois, 
lozva, Massachusetts, Texas, and Indiana, were 
anchored in the bay on the west side of the island, 
while the Olynipia, Admiral Dewey's old ship, 
and now the flag-ship of Rear-Admiral Coghlan, 
and the other war-ships were in the inside har- 
bor, where we anchored, and where we had the 
pleasure of seeing the burgee of the New York 
Yacht Club hoisted on the Olynipia in honor of 
our Club. 

We dined on the Kearsarge with Admiral Hig- 
ginson. The bay where his battle-ship squadron 
lay is some distance, by sea, from the inner har- 
bor. A short canal has been constructed through 
which small boats can now pass between the 
inside and outside anchorages. 

From Culebra we sailed past Sail Rock to St. 
Thomas, or Charlotte Amalie, as this very pic- 
turesque seaport is named. 
8 




St. Thomas ((.'harlotte Amalie). 




AiiKintr tlie \'irt:in Islands. 



From St. Thomas we sailed by some small 
islands and then along the north shore of the 
island of St. John, through the sound called 
Virgin's Road, or Sir Francis Drake's Channel, 
between the Danish and the British Virgins, and 
anchored for the night at Virgin Gorda, on the 
southeastern end of this charming sound. The 
view at sunset and in the afterglow was wonder- 
fully lovely, with its brilliant coloring of sky 
and water seen between the numerous head- 
lands. That view is beyond the powers of the 
stereopticon. 

The Virgins, with their many quiet anchor- 
ages, are sure some time to be appreciated highly 
by yachtsmen. The climate in winter and spring 
is perfect, — ^not debilitating as Trinidad would 
be for a long stay. 

The next day we sailed near to the island 
of Saba, a great volcanic cone above steep cliffs, 
and arrived the following morning, January 
30th, at Philipsburg, the Dutch port on the 
island of St. Martin. Its chief export is salt. 
St. Martin contains thirty-eight square miles, 
about half belonging to France and half to 
Holland. 

In driving across the end of one of the great 
salt-ponds, the horse got into too deep water, 
which rose to its back, and we had to release it 
9 



from the buggy. With my artificial leg, I was 
left in rather an awkward position. Some girls, 
however, ran to my assistance, and by their aid 
the buggy was pulled and pushed safely to land. 
I was reminded of Galatea aided by the nymphs 
in her escape from Polyphemus. 

Most unfortunately, I have no photograph of 
my nymphs, but well-known pictures of Gal- 
atea's adventure will sufficiently illustrate the 
situation. 

That afternoon we went in my new ten horse- 
power launch to the town of Marigot, in the 
French part of the island, passing first along 
the shore, then through an intricate coral reef, 
and then through a large lagoon. 

Saturday, January 31st, we sailed first to the 
French island of St. Bartholomew, or St. Barts, 
where we went, in the launch, about the pictur- 
esque little harbor of Gustaf, and then sailed 
to Basse Terre, St. Christopher, commonly 
called St. Kitts, an important port of call for 
many steamers. 

We drove across the island and back, and 
sailed to Nevis, formerly the fashionable wa- 
tering-place of the West Indies in the days when 
sugar was king. 

We saw the old stone hotel which cost 
10 



$200,000 and was sold for $200. We visited 
the old fig-tree church, where Lord Nelson was 
married. William, Duke of Clarence, afterward 
King William IV, was best man, 

St. Kitts, Nevis, and St. Croix are of great in- 
terest to Americans on account of the early life 
there of Alexander Hamilton. 

We sailed back to St. Kitts, as I had made en- 
gagements at Culebra to lunch this day with 
Captain Emory, on the Indiana, and to entertain 
at dinner Admiral Higginson and captains of 
some of the battle-ships. 

We reached the anchorage just before the 
arrival of the battle-ship squadron, whose ap- 
proach was very impressive. 

The Admiral sent his band of more than a 
dozen pieces to play on the Sea Fox. 

February 3d, we sailed from St. Kitts, saw 
Antigua in the distance, and passed near to 
Rodonda, Montserrat, and Guadeloupe. 

Some Americans pronounce Antigua as if it 
were a word of four syllables : 

"There was a young bride in An-tig-u-a, 
Who said to her spouse, ' What a pig you are ! ' 
He replied, ' O my Queen, 
Is it manners you mean, 
Or do you refer to my fig-u-a? ' " 
II 



The next day we skirted Dominica and Mar- 
tinique, When opposite Mt. Pelee we tacked 
close inshore and sailed along the front of the 
dead city of St. Pierre. We anchored that 
evening at Fort-de-France. 

The views of Mt. Pelee and St. Pierre, and 
the great changes since the year before, were 
most impressive. But I will speak of this later, 
for, on our return from Trinidad, we obtained 
a permit at Fort-de-France, and landed at St. 
Pierre. 

There is a fine statue of Empress Josephine, 
erected in the principal square of Fort-de-France, 
in memory of her birthplace near here. 

This is a portrait of the ex-king of Dahomey 
and two wives, the only royalties now living 
here. He is a prisoner, but has a good house 
and other comforts. 

February 5th, we sailed past St. Lucia. At 
sundown, when near to the Soufriere St. Vin- 
cent, we saw lightnings about the mountain and 
a black cloud on top, and we learned later that 
there was a slight eruption that night. 

We arrived at Kingstown, St. Vincent, about 
noon, February 6th, and, after a drive, sailed 
again, and passing close to some of the Grena- 
dines, reached St. George, Grenada, at 7.30 p.m. 
12 




Ex-king of Dahomey and wives. 



The next day we lunched at the Government 
House, and Lady Llewellyn took us for an in- 
teresting drive overlooking the Vale of Tempe 
and the sea, and among the cocoa plantations. 

The following day we had a launch excursion 
and dined at Government House, and early the 
next morning sailed for Trinidad. 

The fine auxiliary yacht Mohican steamed out 
before us, but when the trade-wind commenced 
to blow we soon passed her, and reached Port 
of Spain, Trinidad, long before her. I mention 
this as a proof that steam is not needed on 
yachts in the eastern part of the Caribbean Sea. 

We anchored at 5.30 p.m., when an officer 
from the British flag-ship called on behalf of 
Vice-Admiral Sir Archibald L. Douglas. 

That evening we dined at Government House, 
with Sir Alfred and Lady Maloney, who invited 
us to go the next day on an excursion with the 
British Admiral. We were unable to accept this, 
but visited the flag-ship Ariadne, and Captain 
Browning of the Ariadne called on the Sea Fox. 

One of my guests, Mr. James William Beek- 
man, had, to our great regret, to leave us to re- 
turn to New York. We went to the steamer to 
see him off, and then took a very interesting 
trip in the launch through the canal and among 
13 



the Five Islands and the islands of the Boca, or 
mouth of the Gulf of Paria. These picturesque 
islands, Diego, Casper Grande, and Mono, have 
lovely little harbors and many summer cottages 
belonging to the residents of Port of Spain. 
There are fine views here of the eastern end of 
the Andes, 

The next morning Admiral Douglas called. I 
had planned to go in the yacht up the San Juan 
River, Venezuela, among the mountains near 
the great northern wall of South America. But 
I learned from both British and American ad- 
mirals that it would not be possible to do so, 
because of the excited state of the country. 

RETURN FROM TRINIDAD 

February 14th, at 10 a.m., we began our home- 
ward course, on which we visited many more 
ports than on our way south. 

Our first visit was at St. George, Grenada, 
where we had stopped on our way south. This 
is an ideally romantic place. The town is in two 
parts, connected by a tunnel which runs through 
a cliff on which the old fort stands. 

The north harbor is an open roadstead. 

The south harbor is landlocked. 
14 




St. George, Grenada. 




St. Cleorge, Grenada. View from Government House. 



We dined and spent the night at Government 
House, from which there are charming views of 
the south harbor and coast, mountains and val- 
leys, and drove into the interior up to Grand 
Etang, a lake in an ancient crater among the 
clouds. 

I took the Governor, Sir Robert B. Llewellyn, 
and his daughters, in the Sea Fox, to the island 
of Cariacou, forty miles distant, and which they 
had not before visited. They spent one night 
on the yacht and returned with us to St. George. 
Cariacou is one of the Grenadines, and has 6500 
inhabitants. 

We went to Lady Llewellyn's ball, for which 
Admiral Douglas had sent H.M. cruiser Retribu- 
tion. Captain Bostwick, of our Club, with his 
wife and their two young children and friends, 
arrived in the Sultana as we were about to leave. 
They were all enjoying their cruise. 

We then sailed among many of the eastern 
Grenadines, past the Soufriere St. Vincent, the 
Soufriere St. Lucia, and the stupendous Pitons, 
to Castries, St. Lucia, which is the Gibraltar 
of the West Indies, and the great West Indian 
coaling-station. The coaling is done by women, 
who carry soft, dusty coal in baskets on their 
heads. 

15 



There are new and very important earthworks, 
also model barracks and hospitals on the north 
shore of the harbor. 

This picture may give valuable hints to our 
Regatta Committee. It is of a race between 
Castries yachts, which passed close to the Sea 
Fox. The yachtsmen had to let go their sheets 
often to keep from upsetting, and to bail the 
little coffins in which they sailed. 



DIAMOND ROCK 

From Castries we sailed for Martinique, one mile 
south of which we passed close to Diamond 
Rock, a very remarkable little island, about 800 
feet square, 574 feet high, and with precipitous 
sides. The rock was formerly rated as a sloop- 
of-war on the books of the British Admiralty. 
In January, 1804, Sir Samuel Hood laid his 
seventy-four gun ship, Centaur, close alongside 
this rock, to the top of which he made fast a 
hawser on which was a traveler. He then 
hauled three long twenty-fours and two eigh- 
teens to the top, and left them in charge of 
Lieutenant Maurice, with one hundred and 
twenty men and boys, with ammunition, pro- 
16 




The Pitons, nearly 3000 feet high. 




Yacht race at Castries. 



visions, and water. The crew built a cistern, 
and for fifteen months this novel sloop-of-war 
did great injury to the French shipping going 
to and from the neighboring harbor, now called 
Fort-de-France, until June i, 1805, when she 
surrendered, for want of powder, to a French 
squadron of two seventy-fours, a corvette, a 
schooner, and eleven gunboats. In this engage- 
ment the stone sloop-of-war. Diamond Rock, 
killed and wounded seventy men and destroyed 
three gunboats, with a loss to herself of two 
killed and one wounded. 

Reading this story as quoted by Kingsley from 
" Naval Chronicles," Vol. XII, p. 206, and pass- 
ing Diamond Rock in 1899, and remembering 
my application made many years before for a 
caveat on a revolving vessel, I was led to invent 
an armored globular battery, for which the 
United States and foreign governments have 
granted me patents. After talking with some 
prominent naval men, I have come to think it 
of sufficient importance to ask the Club to look 
for a moment at photographs of preliminary 
sketches, which will explain my floating fort. 

The fifteen-inch guns are rigidly fixed to the 
globular battery, so far as their aim is concerned. 
The elevation is effected by tilting the whole 
17 



globular battery. This is done by weighted cars 
moving on sectional tracks. The azimuths are 
regulated by four screw-propellers, which re- 
volve the battery horizontally, and have also the 
faculty of moving it slowly from place to place.^ 



THE GREAT DISASTER AT ST. PIERRE 

February 23d, we stopped at Fort-de-France, 
and obtained a permit to land at St. Pierre, which 
we then visited, going ashore and also rowing 
close to the sea-wall and ruins along the whole 
water-front of the dead city. 

This picture shows St. Pierre as it was before 
the eruption of May 8, 1902. 

This picture shows St. Pierre after the un- 
paralleled disaster which in five minutes de- 
stroyed this beautiful and prosperous city and 
thirty thousand inhabitants. 

When I visited St. Pierre in 1902, we went up 
Mt. Pelee as far as Fontaine Chaude, where a 
considerable stream of hot sulphur-water then 
flowed out of the mountain. Fontaine Chaude 
was, in my opinion, the precise point where the 

1 Sketches of Globular Battery, with fuller description, will be found 

at end of this Lecture. 

18 




St. Pierre, before the eruption. 




St. Pierre, after its destruction. 



side of the mountain blew out and destroyed 
St. Pierre. Numerous jets of steam were rising 
from this place when we sailed along the shore 
there this year, on our way south. 



SAILING NORTHWARD FROM ST. PIERRE 

We sailed out of the anchorage at St. Pierre, be- 
tween a most peaceful sunset with wonderful 
afterglow on our left, and the scene of terrible 
desolation on our right. The wind was so light 
that we were kept near to Mt. Pelee longer than 
we liked, for we had learned from an eye-witness 
that at a recent eruption the hot sand had spread 
westward about five miles from shore, turning 
the surface of the sea to steam. 

We passed close to Dominica, but did not 
have time to stop. I visited this island in 1902. 
It is one of the grandest of the Carib Islands. 
The people are miserably poor, almost without 
roads, and, being British, it is cut ofif from trade 
with the neighboring islands, which are French. 
We sailed past Marie Galante to Pointe-a- 
Pitre, Grande Terre, the eastern one of the twin 
islands called Guadeloupe. A narrow and shal- 
low strait, the Riviere Salee, divides Grande 
19 



Terre from the other or western twin, which is 
of about equal size, but much higher. 

At Pointe-a-Pitre, Consul Ayme dined on 
board, told us about the Mt. Pelee eruption, and 
showed us some interesting stereopticon pictures 
of St. Pierre, Mt. Pelee, etc. 

On my visit in 1902, I had found Mr. Ayme a 
man of marked ability and intelligence. As 
he had been promptly on the ground after the 
great eruption, I applied for information to him, 
as a man most competent to give an accurate 
account. 

We sailed along the southeastern coast of 
Guadeloupe, past bright green fields of sugar 
cane, fertile hills, and noble mountains from 
which waterfalls and streams descend to the sea. 
A lovely, laughing land. 

On our left were the Iles-des-Saintes, the 
French naval station. 

Off these islands De Grasse was defeated by 
Rodney, April 12, 1782, — the severest naval 
battle in English history, and a victory that 
England then considered of greater importance 
than the loss of her thirteen North American 
colonies. 

At Basse Terre, Guadeloupe, we obtained a 
supply of naphtha for our launch, and took a 
20 



beautiful drive of about seven miles to Matuba. 
The scenery is truly grand, especially the views 
from two iron bridges crossing deep mountain 
gorges. Matuba lies on the westerly slope of 
the Guadeloupe Soufriere, which had lately 
been discharging ashes, and it was sad to think 
that this lovely district might be destroyed at 
any moment. 

The government of Guadeloupe is controlled 
by blacks and colored people, and it is feared 
that an explosion more serious than a volcanic 
eruption may break out there. 

Our next anchorage was at the British island 
of Montserrat. The people here appear more 
poverty-stricken than at any other island except 
Dominica. 

After stopping again at St. Kitts for water 
and ice, we sailed to St. Eustatius, and, pass- 
ing close under the bold white cliff there, an- 
chored in the harbor of Orange Town. Holland 
owns this island, which was once very pros- 
perous. The remains of great, solid stone 
warehouses are to be seen at the edge of the 
harbor. 

We sailed close by the wonderful cliffs on the 
western side of the Dutch island of Saba. It 
was too rough to land, but the mountains were 

21 



unusually free from clouds. The principal vil- 
lage is called Bottom. It is 960 feet above the 
sea, and is reached only by steep paths and by 
steps cut in the cliff. But it is seen from the 
sea through a narrow gorge. 

We then sailed to Fredericksted, St. Croix, 
drove across the island on a perfect road, passing 
a number of fine-looking sugar-works, to Chris- 
tiansted, where we had luncheon, saw the town 
and the old Baltimore schooner Vigilant^ which 
has been employed by the Danish government 
to carry mail, etc., ever since she was captured 
when in the slave trade in 1801. 

We drove back to Fredericksted in the even- 
ing. 

From conversations with a number of people 
of various conditions, it appears that there is 
some reaction from the general desire for an- 
nexation to the United States, which seemed to 
exist when I was in St. Croix the year before. 
It is now expected there that Denmark will do 
much to develop her islands. But it is not easy 
to see how they can prosper without free trade 
with the United States. 

From St. Croix we sailed to Ponce, Porto 
Rico. I found Ponce less interesting than I had 
expected. 

22 



ISLAND OF HAYTI 

March 3d we sailed from Ponce, and the next 
day arrived at Santo Domingo, a remarkable 
sixteenth-century Spanish- American walled city, 
built at the mouth of the Ozama River, — the 
oldest city of European foundation in the new 
world. In 1496 a fort was built on the opposite 
side of the river, which is narrow at this point. 
Columbus was confined there in 1500. That 
fort was destroyed by an earthquake in 1502, 
and this castle was built about 1509. It is the 
most conspicuous object in the city, and the old- 
est castle in America. The first university in 
America was at Santo Domingo. 

The cathedral, built of solid stone, commenced 
in 1 5 12 and finished in 1540, is one of the most 
notable buildings in the western hemisphere. It 
is claimed that the remains of Columbus are in 
the stone coffin under a great monument to him 
in this church. Much evidence — conclusive, I 
think — has been adduced in support of this claim, 
and that it was the remains of Diego Columbus, 
the son of the great discoverer, that were taken 
by mistake to Havana. We found Santo Do- 
mingo most interesting, although vilely dirty. 
23 



Passing the " House of Columbus," which 
belonged not to the discoverer, but to his son 
Diego, who here maintained a splendid vice- 
regal court, we went in the launch about five 
miles up the Ozama, on which there were many 
long dugout canoes. We wished we had time to 
go much farther up this large river, but we 
wanted to see more of the city. We returned 
and drove inside and outside of the walls. On 
all sides children of both sexes without any 
clothing were playing in the dirty streets. The 
appearance of the soldiers was grotesque. There 
were many ruins of once fine buildings, and dis- 
order and decay everywhere. 

We were told that there was a revolution go- 
ing on, and that eight revolutionists had been 
captured the preceding day. One of these revo- 
lutionists we saw and talked with. The govern- 
ment is nominally a free republic, but is prac- 
tically a military despotism. One part of the 
community is pleased at having certain laws 
made, and another part is pleased by the liberal 
non-enforcement of these laws. Politicians in 
our country may suppose that they have invented 
this clever, double-acting scheme. But it is pre- 
cisely the Santo Domingo plan; and the poli- 
ticians there thrive under it so well that the outs 
24 



are constantly getting up revolutions, hoping to 
obtain a chance to construe the laws liberally to 
the profit of themselves and their partizans. 

Santo Domingo has a colored man's govern- 
ment. Hayti, the western part of the island, has 
a black man's government. These two classes 
here, as in some other parts of the Caribbean 
Sea, hate each other. 

In most of the islands, the distinction between 
colored and black people is very sharply drawn. 

We sailed past Jacmel, Hayti, but did not land. 
Jacmel is an open roadstead, and the sea was 
rolling in, as there was a little south in the wind 
that day. Even the mail-steamers seldom anchor 
there. 

The island of Hayti, seen from the south, has 
not the grand and mysterious aspect that I noted 
when sailing along the northern shores in 1899 
and in 1902. The government is, like that of 
Santo Domingo, nominally a free republic, but 
practically a military despotism. In 1867, ac- 
cording to Hesketh Pritchard's book on Hayti, 
the army was composed of 6500 generals, 7000 
regimental officers, and 6500 privates. Ober, 
in 1893, says the nominal strength of the army 
is about 20,000, of which some 14,000 are gen- 
eral, staff, and regimental officers. 
25 



Robert T. Hill, writing in 1898, states that 
of the eleven rulers of Hayti since its freedom, 
only one has escaped being either shot or de- 
ported. 

For accounts showing how civilization has 
retrogressed in Hayti in the last hundred years, 
during which time the negroes have " enjoyed 
self-government," with the particulars of the re- 
lapse of great masses of the people into serpent 
worship, and for accounts of cannibalism, I 
must refer to the book of Sir Sidney St. John, 
who lived for years in Hayti, and to the books of 
F. A. Ober. Ober spent about fifteen years in 
studying the islands and the fortunes of Colum- 
bus, and was the United States Special Com- 
missioner to the West Indies for the Chicago 
Exposition. Writing in 1893, he gives details 
which he claims to be sufficient " to show that 
cannibalism still flourishes in Hayti." This has 
been denied by Haytian authorities. 

JAMAICA 

At 10 P.M., March 7th, we sighted Morant Point 
on the eastern end of Jamaica, and the next day 
arrived at Kingston, after an interesting sail 
along the coast. 

26 




Port Antonio, Jamaica. 




J'ort .\ntonio, view of inner harbor from hotel. 



Here we met the Sultana again. Also the 
British flag-ship Ariadne. 

There are many coolies here as at Trinidad. 

We dined at King's House, the residence of 
the Governor, Sir Augustus L. Hemming. His 
Excellency and Lady Hemming, Chief Magis- 
trate and Mrs. Mares-Caux, and Commander 
Eustace of H. M. cruiser Alert, dined next night 
on the Sea Fox. We visited the Ariadne, being 
invited to meet General Shaw. 

My guest, Mr. Robert G. Hone, was now 
obliged, to my great regret, to return to New 
York, and left me at Kingston, March nth. 

The same day I ordered the Sea Fox to sail 
for Montego Bay, on the northwestern coast, 
while I visited other parts of the island by rail. 
I first drove to the old historical plantation of 
Cherry Garden, now owned by the Hon. Chief 
Magistrate Mares-Caux, where I dined and 
spent the night. This was the night before the 
full moon, and the view from Cherry Garden 
House over the country, Kingston, the harbor, 
sea and headlands, was charming. 

The next day I went by rail in four and a 

half hours from Kingston to Port Antonio, the 

headquarters of the United Fruit Company, 

which has absorbed the Boston Fruit Company 

27 



and other fruit companies. It owns a large fleet 
of steamers, many plantations, and the hotel 
here, which stands on a bluff between two 
harbors. 

Port Antonio is one of the most romantic 
places I have ever visited. The full moon shone 
over the palm trees and the harbors with their 
vessels and sail-boats, and it was a fairy scene. 

Immediately in front of the hotel is a small 
island which protects both harbors ; the entrance 
to the principal harbor is very narrow. West- 
ward of this little island there is a fine surf, and 
eastward the sea dashes against black rocks. 
The visitors at the hotel and at the many cot- 
tages adjoining were mostly from New Eng- 
land. There is talk of taking down the present 
cheap buildings and putting up a better hotel 
in their place this year. 

This part of Jamaica faces the northeast trade- 
winds, and has about three times as much rain- 
fall as the southern side of the island. 

The mountain and coast scenery of Jamaica 
is justly celebrated for grandeur and rare 
beauty. 

The tropical foliage of northern and central 
Jamaica is most luxuriant. Fine banana trees 
may be produced by irrigation. But to produce 
28 




Scene near Port Antonio. 




Washing clothes in Jamaica. 



the best bananas, plenty of showers are neces- 
sary; and they have these here. Many ruined 
sugar estates have been turned into banana 
plantations, or divided among peasant propri- 
etors who raise bananas for sale; and as the 
United States admits bananas free of duty, the 
people of Jamaica, living under well-admin- 
istered laws, and being able to buy land and to 
sell fruit, etc., appear happier than the inhabi- 
tants of the other islands. It is terrible to think 
how much of this prosperity may be destroyed 
by a single line in our next tariff bill. 

Time does not permit me to give instructive 
particulars regarding the remarkable growth of 
this banana trade, which has resulted in great ad- 
vantage to both countries. A few years ago 
bananas were seldom seen in our country, except 
in a few cities. Now this useful fruit is found 
in every village ; meanwhile, the use of American 
goods has greatly increased in Jamaica. When 
a peasant can earn only twenty cents a day as in 
many Carib islands, he is not a large consumer 
of imported goods ; but let his earnings increase 
and he will use American oil, provisions, and 
manufactured goods. 

From Port Antonio I went in four hours by 
rail to Spanish Town, the former capital, and 
29 



the next day, in six hours by rail, to Montpelier, 
which is a rich grazing and fruit and sugar 
country. 

A drive of ten miles from Montpelier brought 
me to Montego Bay, where I found the yacht, 
and sailed at 3.30 o'clock, March i6th, for Cien- 
fuegos, Cuba. 



CONDITIONS IN JAMAICA, HAYTI, AND SANTO 
DOMINGO COMPARED 

The successful government of Jamaica, where 
there are nearly one hundred colored and black 
persons to one white, is a very important study 
for American statesmen. Two and one-half per 
cent, of the people are registered as white, but 
some of these are known to have an admixture 
of black blood. It has been proved there that 
vast numbers of negroes, when led by a few able 
brave and honest whites, can be advanced in 
civilization. The soldiers, policemen, railway 
conductors, guards, and engineers are black or 
colored. The commissioned officers are, of 
course, white. The published histories of the 
Jamaica regiments show how these black troops, 
commanded by white commissioned officers, 
30 



have maintained order and fought bravely for 
England and her colonies in the West Indies 
and in Africa. They are fine-looking, and ap- 
pear proud of their uniform and of their ser- 
vice. There are only about twelve hundred 
white troops on the island, which has a popula- 
tion of more than seven hundred and fifty 
thousand. 

There are many negro owners of very small 
farms. Any man paying $2.50 taxes can vote 
for members of the Legislature, which has lim- 
ited powers. 

Compare the actual conditions in Jamaica with 
those in the neighboring island of Hayti. At 
about the close of the seventeenth century, Hayti 
was the richest colony in the world. A century 
later it contained very many splendid estates, 
noble houses, and a rich and refined society. 
The black Republic of Hayti appears to be going 
back to barbarism. The roads cannot now be 
driven over, and the forests have encroached 
largely on the cultivated land. The most popu- 
lar hero is the black Emperor Dessalines, who, 
in 1804, ordered the massacre of all whites. 

The colored Republic of Santo Domingo 
drove out or killed almost all whites and blacks. 

The government of Jamaica has been able to 
31 



do so much for its people, notwithstanding the 
destruction of the great staple industry of the 
island, causing large losses to the owners of 
great sugar estates. But even sugar appears to 
be looking up, and would be a very profitable 
crop if our country would consent to receive it 
freely in exchange for articles which we could 
sell there to the advantage of our own citizens. 

THE NEGRO QUESTION IN THE UNITED STATES 

If the statesmen of our reconstruction period had 
taken a yachting cruise throughout the Carib- 
bean Sea, they could never have committed the 
terrible mistake, or offense against nature, of at- 
tempting to place a superior race under the 
domination of an inferior one. 
Lincoln said, September, 1859: 

"I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing 
about, in any way, the social and political equality of the 
white and black races ; I am not, nor ever have been, in 
favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualify- 
ing them to hold office, or to intermarry with white peo- 
ple : and I will say, in addition to this, that there is a 
physical difference between the white and black races, 
which, I believe, will forever forbid the two races living 
together on terms of social and political equality." 

32 



After the close of the war, after the South had 
laid down its arms and had elected National 
senators and representatives, it was found that 
the dominant party might be unable to maintain 
control of Congress. Then Garfield, in urging 
the passage of the Act of 1867, a bill for the 
extension of suffrage to the colored race in the 
late Confederate States, said: 

"This bill sets out by laying its hands on the rebel gov- 
ernments, and taking the very breath of life out of them ; 
in the next place, it puts the bayonet at the breast of 
every rebel in the South; in the next place, it leaves in 
the hands of Congress, utterly and absolutely, the work 
of reconstruction." 

The result of this policy is not a pleasant sub- 
ject to discuss. But those who have had oppor- 
tunity to observe the material and social ruin 
wrought in some of these islands by political 
equality and unrestrained intercourse between 
the races, followed by the supremacy of the lower 
race, are bound to bear their testimony, now 
that the question has again come up in our coun- 
try as one of pressing importance. An un- 
known author, quoted by Marcus Aurelius, has 
said, " He who fears to speak freely is a slave." 

The noble work of Booker T. Washington and 

33 



others will prepare many negroes properly to 
exercise political rights and privileges. But 
where negroes are in the majority in communi- 
ties in our country, to encourage them to attempt 
to rule white men, must, I think, prove dis- 
astrous. 

CUBA 

We had light winds most of the way from Jamaica 
to Cuba. One night the calm was so absolute 
that the reflection of stars in the water exceeded 
anything of the kind I had ever seen. 

Early March 19th, we arrived at Cienfuegos, 
a great and perfectly landlocked harbor that 
would hold all the navies of the world. It has 
a deep but narrow and crooked entrance. The 
mountains to the eastward are fine. Westward 
from here the great agricultural country of Cuba 
is mostly flat. 

T sent the 'Sea Fox on to meet me at Havana, 
and went by rail that afternoon to Santa Clara, 
the following day to Matanzas, and the next 
morning to Havana, where I found that friends 
I had expected to meet had had to return home. 

The yacht was nearly four days going from 
Cienfuegos to Havana. Yachtsmen should re- 
34 



member that light winds and calms are to be ex- 
pected on the southwesterly sides of Jamaica and 
Cuba at this time of year. 

The Sea Fox anchored near the wreck of the 
Maine, and near by Commodore Bennett's grand 
yacht Lysistrata, 1943 tons, and Captain Struth- 
ers's plucky little racing schooner Muriel, y2 
tons, were anchored close together. 

I found western Cuba very hot. It was too 
far from the delightful trade-winds we had so 
lately enjoyed. So I was very glad to find my- 
self again on my yacht and with prospect of 
ocean breezes. 

The breezes were light until we were about 
abreast of Miami, Florida, when a strong north- 
erly wind against the Gulf Stream made a bad 
sea, and we had a lot of severe squalls. These 
conditions are not uncommon in that neighbor- 
hood, as I had before experienced. The rough 
weather continued until we reached Nassau, 
where we arrived March 27th, at 7.30 a.m. I 
dined that evening at Government House, and 
the following evening the Governor, Sir Gilbert 
Carter, and his daughter dined on the Sea Fox. 

We sailed from Nassau April ist, and had 
light winds until the night of April 4th, when 
we had a northwest gale. 
35 



Saturday morning, April 4th, we arrived off 
Charleston, where I found still flourishing the 
charming hospitality for which that pleasant 
city has been so long distinguished. 

It was very cold at Charleston. I sent the 
Sea Fox, April 7th, to Fortress Monroe, and 
went there by rail. 

The yacht arrived at Fortress Monroe early 
April 9th. 

We sailed to Norfolk and afterwards up the 
Chesapeake and to Baltimore, where we arrived 
April 14th. I returned by rail to New York 
April 15th, almost exactly three months from 
the time I left here, January 17th. 

The Sea Fox reached New York April 19th, 
having been away four days less than four 
months, during which time she had sailed 8100 
sea miles, measured on straight courses from 
port to port. During the previous season's 
cruise to the Bermudas, Caribbean Sea, etc., she 
sailed 7380 miles. 

This is the Sea Fox in racing trim, when her 
New York Yacht Club measurement is 89 feet 
5 inches water-line, 115 feet all over, 11 feet 
draft. Tonnage, 96.67. 

This is the Sea Fox in cruising trim, when, 
with stores, etc., on board, she draws nearly 
i2j^ feet. 

36 




Sea Fox, in cruising trim. 




Sea Fox, sailing with small awning set. 



Being built of iron, she has to be hauled less 
than half as often as a steel yacht, which is an 
important consideration in building yachts for 
distant cruising. 

This shows our party on the Sea Fox. We 
are under the small awning which we carry 
when sailing. 



CRUISING IN SAILING YACHTS 

I WISH to add that I am as firm as ever in my judg- 
ment regarding the advantages of cruising in 
sailing yachts in distant seas.* 

What other sport so moderates the mind and 
promotes good-fellowship ? 

An occasional storm is only Nature's coy 
way of alluring by an appearance of resistance. 
What joy there is in contests with her. How, 
at length, she yields and delights to be con- 
quered. How lovely the nights under the 
stars on the gently swelling ocean. How snug 
and comfortable we feel when we get the trysail 
set. 

1 " Sea cruising promotes a healthy taste for real yachts as com- 
pared with expensive sailing machines." — " Cruising in the West 
Indies," etc., by Anson Phelps Stokes, p. 93. See also pages 
20-23, *<^'fn. 

37 



The greatest of the Greek tragic poets has 
beautifully associated the sea with mental calm : 

"Mind serene like the calm of the sea." 

That this mental calm is sometimes disturbed 
by seasickness is because of a strange want of 
logiccil perception. The diurnal revolution of 
the earth carries us at the equator a thousand 
miles per hour. We move more than a thousand 
miles a minute in our journey around the sun. 

Compared to these rapid movements, the mo- 
tion of the waves is ridiculously small. 

To permit one's self to be excited by such 
small motions is absurd. 



38 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Aconcagua, 6 

Act of 1867, 33 

Alabama, 8 

Alert, 27 

American goods, 29 

American statesmen, 30, 32 

Andes, 14 

Annexation, 22 

Antigua, 11 

Ariadne, 13, 27 

Armored globular battery, 17 

Ayme, Consul, 20 

B 

Baltimore, 7, 36 
Bananas, 28, 29 
Basse Terre, Guadeloupe, 20 
Basse Terre, St. Kitts, 10 
Battery, 17 
Battle, 20 
Battle-ships, 8, il 
Beekman, James William, 13 
Bennett, ex-Commodore, 35 



Bermudas, 36 

Black man's government, 21, 

25, 31 
Black people, 25, 30 
Black Republic, 31 
Black troops, 30 
Boston Fruit Company, 27 
Bostwick, Captain, 15 
Bottom, 22 
British Admiral, 13 
British Admiralty, 16 
Browning, Captain, 13 



Cannibalism, 26 

Canoes, 24 

Caracas, 5 

Cariacou, 15 

Caribbean Sea, 4, 5, 13, 25, 

32, 36 
Carib Islands, 19 
Carter, Sir Gilbert, 35 
Casper Grande, 14 
Castries, 15, 16 



41 



Cathedral, 23 
Centaur, 16 
Charleston, 36 
Charlotte Amalie, 8 
Cherry Garden, 27 
Chesapeake, 36 
Christiansted, 22 
Cienfuegos, Cuba, 30, 34 
Coaling-station, 15 
Cocoa plantations, 13 
Coghlan, Rear-Admiral, 8 
Colonial problems, 4 
Colonial systems, 4 
Colonies, 20, 31 



De Grasse, 20 

Denmark, 22 
Dessalines, 31 
Diamond Rock, 16, 17 
Diego, 14 

Disaster at St. Pierre, 18 
Dominica, 12, 19, 21 
Douglas, Vice-Admiral Sir 
Archibald, 13, 14, 15 



Earthquake, 23 
Emory, Captain, il 



Colored government, 5, 21, ^^gj^^^, 20, 31 



25 
Colored people, 21, 25 
Colored Republic, 31 
Columbus, 7, 23, 24, 26 
Columbus, Diego, 23 
Confederate States, 33 
Coolies, 27 

Cruises, 3, 4, 7, 15, 32 
Cruising in the Caribbean, 4 



Eruption, 18, 20 
Eustace, Commander, 27 



Five Islands, 14 
Floating fort, 17 
Florida, 35 



Cruising in the West Indies, Fontaine Chaude, 18 



etc., 3, 4, z-] 
Cuba, 3, 30, 34, 35 
Culebra, 8, 1 1 

D 

Dahomey, ex-king of, 12 
Danish government, 22 



Fort-de-France, 12, 17, 18 
Fortress Monroe, 36 
France, 9 

Fredericksted, St. Croix, 22 
Free trade, 22, 29, 32 
French naval station, 20 
Fruit, 27-30 

42 



G I 

Galatea, lo Iles-des-Saintes, 20 

Garfield, 33 Illinois, 8 

Globular battery, 17, 18 Imported goods, 29 

Government, 5, 21, 22, 24, Indiana, 8, 11 

25, 30, 31 Inhabitants, 4, 19, 21, 29 

Grand Etang, 15 Intermarriage, 32 

Grande Terre, 19, 20 /<?«/«, 8 

Grenada, 12-14 Islands, 3, 4, 5, 9, 14, 19, 22, 

Grenadines, 5, 12, 15 25, 26, 29, 33 
Guadeloupe, 11, 19, 20, 21 
Guadeloupe Soufriere, 21 

Gulf of Paria, 14 J 

Gulf Stream, 35 Jacmel, 25 

Gustaf, 10 Jamaica, 3, 5, 26, 29, 30, 31, 

35 

H Josephine, Empress, 12 



K 



Hamilton, Alexander, 11 

Havana, 23, 34 

Hayti, 3, 5, 23, 25, 26, 30, 

31 Kearsarge, 8 

Haytian army, 25 King's House, 27 

Hemming, Sir Augustus L., Kingsley, 5, 17 

27 Kingston, 26, 27 

Higginson, Rear- Admiral, 8, Kingstown, St. Vincent, 12 

II 
Hill, Robert J., 26 

Holland, 9, 21 L 

Hone, Robert G., 27 Labor, 4 

Hood, Sir Samuel, 16 Land-ownership, 4 

Hunt, Governor, 7 Laws, 24, 29 

43 



Leeward Islands, 5 
Lincoln, 32 

Llewellyn, Sir Robert B., 
Lysistrata, yacht, 35 

M 
Maine, 35 

Maloney, Sir Alfred, 13 
Marcus Aurelius, 33 
Mares-Caux, Chief Magis- 
trate, 27 
Marie Galante, 19 
Marigot, 10 
Martinique, 5, 12, 16 
Massachusetts, 8 
Massacre of whites, 3 1 
Matanzas, 34 
Material ruin, 33 
Matuba, 21 

Maurice, Lieutenant, 16 
Mediterranean, 6 
Military despotism, 24, 25 
Mixture of races, 5 
Mohican, yacht, 13 
Mono, 14 

Montego Bay, 27, 30 
Montpelier, 30 
Montserrat, 11, 21 
Morant Point, 26 
Morro Castle, 7 
Mt. Pelee, 12, 19, 20 
Muriel, yacht, 35 

L.ofC. 



N 

Naphtha, 20 
1 5 Nassau, 35 

Naval battle, 20 

Naval Chronicles, 17 

Naval station, 20 

Negroes, 26, 30, 34 

Negro owners, 31 

Negro question, 4, 30, 32 

Negro self-government, 26 

Nelson, Lord, 11 

Nevis, 10, I r 

New England visitors, 28 

New York, 4, 27, 36 

New York Yacht Club, 3, 4, 

8, 15 
Non-enforcement of laws, 24 
Norfolk, 36 

North Atlantic Squadron, 8 
Nymphs, 10 

O 

Ober, F. A,, 25, 26 
Olympia, 8 
Orange Town, 21 
Ozama River, 23, 24 



Patents, 17 

Peasant proprietors, 29 

Philipsburg, 9 



44 



Pitons, 15 

Pointe-a-Pitre, 19, 20 
Political equality, 32, 33 
Political rights, 34 
Politicians, 24 
Polyphemus, 10 
Ponce de Leon, 7 
Ponce, Porto Rico, 22, 23 
Population, 31 
Port Antonio, 27, 28 
Port of Spain, 13, 14 
Porto Rico, 3, 7, 22 
Pritchard, Hesketh, 25 
Prosperity, 29 

R 
Race, 16 
Real yachts, yj 
Reconstruction, 32, '^■^ 
Republic, 24, 25, 31 
Retribution^ 15 
Revolution, 24 
Riviere Salee, 19 
Roads, 19, 22, 31 
Rodney, Admiral, 20 
Rodonda, 11 
Ruins, 18, 24 



Saba, 9, 21 

Sailing machines, ■i^ 

Sailing yachts, 37 



Sail Rock, 8 

St. Bartholomew, 10 

St. Barts, 10 

St. Christopher, 10 

St. Croix, II, 22 

St. Eustatius, 21 

St. George, Grenada, 12, 14, 

IS 

St. John, 9 

St. John, Sir Sidney, 26 

St. Kitts, 10, II, 21 

St. Lucia, 12, 15 

St. Martin, 9 

St. Pierre, 5, 12, 19 

St. Thomas, 8, 9 

St. Vincent, 5, 12 

Salt-ponds, 9 

San Juan, Porto Rico, 7, 8 

San Juan River, Venezuela, 

14 
Santa Clara, 34 
Santa Marta, 5 
Santo Domingo, 23, 30, 31 
Sea Fox, 3, 7, 11, 13, 15, 16, 

27, 35» 36 

Self-government, 26 

Serpent worship, 26 

Shaw, General, 27 

Sir Francis Drake's Chan- 
nel, 9 

Sloop-of-war, 16, 17 

Social equality, 32 



45 



Social ruin, 33 

Soufriere St. Lucia, 15 

Soufriere St. Vincent, 12, 15 

South America, 5, 14 

Spain, 5 

Spanish Town, 29 

Squadron, 11, 17 

Steam yachts, 13 

Storms, 6 

Struthers, Captain, 35 

Suffrage, 31, 33 

Sugar, 10, 30, 32 

Sugar cane, 20 

Sugar plantations, 29, 32 

Sugar works, 22 

Sultana, yacht, 15, 27 

Sunset, 9, 19 



Tariff, 22, 29, 32 
Texas, 8 

Trade-winds, 6, 13, 28, 35 
Trinidad, 3, 5, 9, 13, 27 
Troops, 30, 31 

U 

United Fruit Company, 27 



United States, 4, 17, 22, 29, 

32 
University, 23 

V 
Vale of Tempe, 13 
Valleys, 15 
Venezuela, 14 
Vigilant, 22 
Virgin Gorda, 9 
Virgin Islands, 5, 9 
Virgin's Road, 9 

W 
Washington, Booker T., 33 
West Indies, 3, 4, 10, 15, 26, 

31 
Westward Ho! 5 
White government, 5 
White race, 32 
William IV, 1 1 
Windward Islands, 5 



Yachting, 6, 37 
Yachting cruise, 32 
Yachts, 13, 16, 37 
Yachtsmen, 9, 16, 34 



46 



Globular Naval Battery 

Patented by 

Anson Phelps Stokes 

lOO William Street 

New York 

igoj 




t^ 



1^ 



^■^ 






GLOBULAR BATTERY 

INVENTED BY 

ANSON PHELPS STOKES 

Numerous attempts have been made to produce 
a floating battery which would prove practicahy 
impregnable; but these batteries have all pos- 
sessed certain disadvantages which, among other 
objects, it is the purpose of my invention to 
overcome. 

While I was abroad, the United States Patent 
Office granted me Letters Patent for a Spherical 
Floating Battery. 

The following shows the claims allowed : 

Extract from specifications forming part of Letters 
Patent No. y 24,^56, dated April 7th, ipoj, 
granted to Anson Phelps Stokes. 

" I. In a substantially spherical floating bat- 
tery, the combination with air-ports, and grat- 

3 



ings, in superposed decks, through which fresh 
air from the exterior passes downward into the 
battery, of a smoke-stack located at the center of 
the battery, and a channel around said stack 
open at its top to the exterior through which 
foul air is discharged by the draft created by 
the heat of the stack, substantially as and for 
the purposes set forth. 

" 2. In a substantially spherical floating bat- 
tery, the combination with an upper deck of an- 
nular shape, and inner and outer walls on said 
deck, of one or more armor shields arranged 
overhead extending from the inner to the outer 
wall, substantially as and for the purposes set 
forth. 

" 3. In a substantially spherical floating bat- 
ter}^ the combination with an exposed upper 
deck of annular shape, and inner and outer walls 
on said deck, of one or more armor shields over- 
head extending from wall to wall and movable 
thereon horizontally, substantially as and for the 
purposes set forth. 

" 4. The combination with a substantially 
spherical floating battery, of one or more guns, 
rigidly mounted near the center thereof, and 
means for elevating or depressing said guns by 
shifting the position of the battery in a vertical 
4 



plane, substantially as and for the purposes set 
forth. 

" 5. The combination with a floating battery 
of substantially spherical shape, of one or more 
guns rigidly mounted near the center thereof, 
arc-shaped tracks, and counterpoises movable 
horizontally on said tracks, whereby the center 
of gravity of the battery may be shifted to ele- 
vate or depress the muzzles of the guns, sub- 
stantially as and for the purposes set forth." 

Very many newspapers published illustrations 
taken from the drawings shown in patent. Many 
added perspective views, containing features for 
which I was not responsible. Foreign govern- 
ments also granted me patents; and comments 
and prints were published by newspapers abroad. 

Having received requests for further informa- 
tion, I have prepared, with the aid of competent 
naval architects, more finished sketches, show- 
ing a globular battery of 115 feet diameter. 
Batteries as large as this, in order that they may 
not draw too much water, have to be more flat- 
tened at bottom than do smaller ones, which may 
be of many sizes, the smallest being nearly a 
sphere and carrying only one large gun. 

The annexed sketches show the proposed 
7 



globular battery Trident, drawing 36' lo^/^" 
\vitb a small quantity of coal and without water 
1)a]last ; and drawing 40' when carrying 2150 
tons of coal and water. The battery can be still 
further immersed by additional fixed ballast or 
by filling water ballast tanks. The shipyards at 
New London, Connecticut, have forty feet or 
more of water, right up to the docks. The dis- 
placement of Trident at 40' draft would be 
11,337 tons. The total weight of armor, steel, 
teak, guns, machinery, counterpoises, joiner and 
carpenter work, outfit, ecjuipment, and ballast 
would be about 8787 tons. This leaves a surplus, 
of 2550 tons for coal, water, stores, and am- 
munition. This surplus can be increased by fur- 
ther immersion, as the first foot of further im- 
mersion would equal 260 tons displacement. 

The spherical form of most of the battery 
gives great strength and defensive power, larger 
capacity for same weight of structure, and much 
economy in construction, many of the parts be- 
ing mere duplicates of each other. No gun- 
carriage is used to hold the large guns, which 
are rigidly held, so far as aim is concerned, but 
they may have recoil cylinders. 

As the great guns extend across most of the 
vessel, much heavier guns can be carried. The 
8 



annexed sketches show the large guns fifteen- 
inch caHber by sixty-two and one-half feet long, 
but the rigid mounting prevents drooping of the 
end of gun, and no doubt a satisfactory sixteen- 
inch gun of, say, fifty calibers, or a still larger 
gun, would be available. The elevation of these 
large guns is effected by tilting the whole globu- 
lar battery. This is done by moving weighted 
cars on arc-shaped tracks. The azimuths are 
regulated by four screw-propellers. An eigh- 
teen-inch armor belt twenty-nine feet wide ex- 
tends all around the globular battery, perfectly 
protecting the main deck, the berth deck, and 
the hull for ten feet below water-line. The gun- 
deck, upper deck, tower, and barbettes have 
twelve-inch armor. The sides of these decks 
are very sloping, and the tower and barbettes 
small and circular. No vessel afloat has any- 
thing like such protection. Only a globular 
battery could carry such a weight of armor. 

It is not intended that the battery should be 
able to move rapidly from place to place; and 
small engines would be suf^ficient to work the 
screws or other mechanisms which rotate the 
battery, or move it slowly from place to place, 
and to operate ventilation, ice and electrical 
plants, etc. Thus, there is much saving in the 
II 



weight and space required for machinery, coal, 
etc., so that heavier armor and more stores can 
be carried ; and the Trident, equipped with a con- 
densing plant, could remain abroad or at sea off 
our coast for many months without needing any 
supplies whatever. There is room on board for 
a large force of men, but a small force would be 
sufficient fully to equip her on a war basis, while 
in times of peace she could be maintained at a 
very small expense. 

The Trident has advantages of superposed 
turrets without their weakness. There are no 
turret rollers to break when large guns are dis- 
charged. One such globular battery would 
blockade the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea, 
where the strait is only seven and three-quarter 
miles wide, could protect a mouth of a trans- 
continental canal, or could defend seaward or 
threaten almost any large seaport, and could 
safely resist a dozen of the largest battle-ships, 
which cost $7,500,000 apiece.^ For many 



1 "The best battle-ship will be the one that can remain longest in 
the stress of action, not the one that can most quickly get into a 
fight or get out of it." — Admiral O'Neill, Chief of Ordnance Bureau. 
Quoted with approval by Messrs. T. A. Brassey and John Leyland 
in "Naval Annual," 1903. 

Our largest battle-ships, the Connecticjit, Louisiana, etc., 16,000 
12 



straits and harbors, globular batteries would 
be much less expensive than costly land forti- 
fications, and more efficient, because so much 
nearer to attacking vessels. 

The roll of the Trident in a gale would be 
very slight. The stability of buoys of a similar 
shape is well known. By the use of additional 
fixed ballast in bottom, the center of gravity can 
be placed farther below the metacenter. 

Iron coal bulkheads and strong iron plates 
under beams above water tanks make practically 
a small vessel inside a larger one. These pro- 
visions, combined with the double cellular con- 
struction above base and also in the coal and 
water ballast tanks, together with the coal, af- 
ford a defense against torpedoes, and a net could 
be arranged to hang around the submerged hull 
and could be armed with small torpedoes to 
destroy attacking torpedoes without affecting 
the Trident. The boilers and machinery are 
particularly well protected. The doors to bar- 
bettes are protected by the armored central 

tons, have 11.4-inch armor on belt and 6- to 8-inch on side, and 
have no gun heavier than 12.8-inch, and cost $7,500,000 each. 

The largest British battle-ship, King Edward VTI, 16,350 tons, 
has 9-inch armor on belt, 8-inch on side, carries 950 tons of coal, 
and has no gun heavier than 12-inch, and cost £1,^26,266 ster- 
ling. 

15 



tower, the doors to which are protected by the 
barbettes. The upper deck and the tops of tower 
and barbettes have three-inch armor. 

If preferred, the guns on upper deck may be 
in turrets instead of in barbettes. Some addi- 
tional guns may be placed on upper deck and on 
gun-deck. Some of the eight-inch or smaller 
guns on gun-deck may 1)e put in barbettes. 

There is large opportunity for torpedo tubes. 

Smaller steam power than that shown would 
be sufficient for coast defense. The purpose of 
the globular battery is coast defense rather than 
foreign conquest. 

Launches and boats may be carried on gun- 
deck under protection of the armor. 

One or two pillars on gun-deck may be moved 
a little or made removable, to facilitate entrance 
of large boats and guns. 

The number of gratings may be increased. 

A sail may be used to keep head to wind when 
at anchor. 

A bilge-keel and a rudder may be added. 

On vertical section the radius of hull above 
water-line may be increased if desired, reducing 
freeboard and increasing positive G. M. and 
making sides more slanting. 

The globular battery may be used also as : 
i6 




^:tl> 



Lightship. 

Station for telephone and for marine and 
wireless telegraph. 

Time-ball station. 

Supply depot for medicines, stores, water, 
coal, equipment, etc. 

News depot and post-office. 

Pilot station. 

Station for doctor. 

Station for instrument maker, for adjustment 
of chronometers, compasses, and other instru- 
ments. 

Stationary troop-ship off an unhealthy port. 

Coast wrecking station, etc., etc. 



19 



FLOATING BATTERY " TRIDENT " 
Diameter, iij Draught, .jo'o" 



SCHEDULE OF WEIGHTS 



Item 


Weight 


in Tons 


Armor 




4750 


Armor backing 




400 


Guns 




395 


Hull steel 




2300 


Machinery 




250 


Coal 




200 


Fresh water 




150 


Stores 




100 


Outfit 




250 


Equipment 




75 



Carpenters' and joiners' work 150 

Ammunition 300 

Counterpoises 100 

Ballast 117 

Reserve coal 1800 



Total displacement ii'3v37 

tons deep load 
20 



Center of gravity above base at deep load is 
36.15'. Positive G. M. is 1.13'. Draught, 4o'o". 



For light load take out: 



Coal 




200 


Water (fresh) 




150 


Stores 




100 


Ammunition 




300 


Equipment (mooring 


anchor) 


25 




775 






11.337 




10,562 




tons light load, 



C. of G. above base at light load is 37.4'. 
Positive G. M. is i.oo'. Draught, 36' ro^-^". 
Anson Phelps Stokes. 
Office, 100 William Street, 
New York. 



21 



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BINDERY INC. 




MAR 91 

N. MANCHESTER, 
rNDIANA 46962 



